EBay CEO John Donahoe said the U.S. government shutdown came at a particularly inopportune time: the beginning of the crucial holiday shopping season.

He said that sales for some retailers were soft in the third quarter. “Then you enter a fourth quarter with massive uncertainty coming out of Washington,” he said in an interview Wednesday, pointing to the shutdown and the potential for a default on government debt.

After eBay reported third quarter earnings Wednesday, investors punished the company’s stock for its fourth quarter outlook, which came in below analysts’ forecasts. Shares fell more than 5%, erasing this year’s gains.

Donahoe wanted to make the point that the company’s grim view of the fourth quarter reflected problems far beyond eBay.

“[The shutdown] makes people a little more tentative about spending,” said Donahoe. “It’s not massive, but on the margin, especially people that are trying to make their dollars stretch, they might be a little more conservative.”

“They may defer making that purchase to next week or next month or next quarter; they may decide to buy a slightly cheaper one,” he said.